The present invention relates to a motor vehicle structure including a bulkhead and two bell-shaped suspension element supports joined respectively to the bulkhead by spacers.
Normally, motor vehicle structures include a chassis and a body mounted on the chassis. Motor vehicle structures also have a front compartment designed to receive the engine, if said engine is front-mounted, and a passenger compartment separated from the front compartment by a bulkhead. Motor vehicle structures also have two bell-shaped suspension element supports arranged laterally inside the front compartment and close to the bulkhead. These two bell-shaped suspension element supports are designed to receive the shock absorber and spring elements of the suspension, when same is connected to the axle shafts. In particular, the upper portion of the supports forms a cover, specifically to bearingly receive the spring elements of the suspension.
The chassis has side members that extend longitudinally beneath the front compartment between the suspension element supports. Furthermore, the side members are mechanically joined to the suspension element support. Moreover, the bulkhead has a rigid cross member and two retaining spacers installed respectively between the two bell-shaped suspension element supports and the cross member. These retaining spacers are designed to retain the supports in the event of a frontal impact and to prevent same from entering the passenger compartment. Document WO2011/113550 describes such an arrangement. However, it has been observed that the side members drive the bell-shaped suspension element supports in rotation about a vertical axis and in movement towards one another and towards the passenger compartment in the event of a frontal impact in which the side members are driven longitudinally towards the rear of the vehicle. Indeed, the two sides members move towards one another as the bell-shaped suspension element supports move away from one another, and as such—as same are deformed—the movement of the side members tends to generate stresses applied substantially tangentially to the internal face of the bell-shaped suspension element supports. In certain circumstances, a frontal impact also causes the bell-shaped suspension element supports to move along a vertical axis away from the chassis.
Furthermore, a problem that the present invention is intended to address is providing a motor vehicle structure that helps to better stabilize the bell-shaped suspension element supports in relation to the body in the event of a frontal impact.